A “haunting, brilliant” Appalachian folktale evoking the Southern gothic suspense of Sharp Objects and the eco spine-tinglers of Jeff Vandermeer (Paul Tremblay, author of A Head Full of Ghosts)
Five siblings in West Virginia unearth long-buried secrets when the supernatural bargain entwining their fate with their ancestral land is suddenly ruptured
Since time immemorial, the Haddesley family has tended the cranberry bog. In exchange, the bog sustains them. The staunch seasons of their lives are governed by a strict covenant that is renewed each generation with the ritual sacrifice of their patriarch, and in return, the bog produces a “bog-wife.” Brought to life from vegetation, this woman is meant to carry on the family line. But when the bog fails—or refuses—to honor the bargain, the Haddesleys, a group of discordant siblings still grieving the mother who mysteriously disappeared years earlier, face an unknown future.
Middle child Wenna, summoned back to the dilapidated family manor just as her marriage is collapsing, believes the Haddesleys must abandon their patrimony. Her siblings are not so easily persuaded. Eldest daughter Eda, de facto head of the household, seeks to salvage the compact by desecrating it. Younger son Percy retreats into the wilderness in a dangerous bid to summon his own bog-wife. And as youngest daughter Nora takes desperate measures to keep her warring siblings together, fledgling patriarch Charlie uncovers a disturbing secret that casts doubt over everything the family has ever believed about itself.
At once a gothic eco-horror, a psychological drama, and a family saga, The Bog Wife is a propulsive read for fans of Shirley Jackson, Karen Russell, and Matt Bell that speaks to what is knowable and unknowable within a family history and how to know when it is time to move forward.
A “haunting, brilliant” Appalachian folktale evoking the Southern gothic suspense of Sharp Objects and the eco spine-tinglers of Jeff Vandermeer (Paul Tremblay, author of A Head Full of Ghosts)
Five siblings in West Virginia unearth long-buried secrets when the supernatural bargain entwining their fate with their ancestral land is suddenly ruptured
Since time immemorial, the Haddesley family has tended the cranberry bog. In exchange, the bog sustains them. The staunch seasons of their lives are governed by a strict covenant that is renewed each generation with the ritual sacrifice of their patriarch, and in return, the bog produces a “bog-wife.” Brought to life from vegetation, this woman is meant to carry on the family line. But when the bog fails—or refuses—to honor the bargain, the Haddesleys, a group of discordant siblings still grieving the mother who mysteriously disappeared years earlier, face an unknown future.
Middle child Wenna, summoned back to the dilapidated family manor just as her marriage is collapsing, believes the Haddesleys must abandon their patrimony. Her siblings are not so easily persuaded. Eldest daughter Eda, de facto head of the household, seeks to salvage the compact by desecrating it. Younger son Percy retreats into the wilderness in a dangerous bid to summon his own bog-wife. And as youngest daughter Nora takes desperate measures to keep her warring siblings together, fledgling patriarch Charlie uncovers a disturbing secret that casts doubt over everything the family has ever believed about itself.
At once a gothic eco-horror, a psychological drama, and a family saga, The Bog Wife is a propulsive read for fans of Shirley Jackson, Karen Russell, and Matt Bell that speaks to what is knowable and unknowable within a family history and how to know when it is time to move forward.
Reviews-
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July 8, 2024
Chronister (Thin Places) creates a claustrophobic portrait of ecological devastation and dire poverty in this grim Appalachian gothic. The Haddesley family of West Virginia has had a long and mystical compact with the bog next to their house. Each Haddesley patriarch is buried in the peat and the eldest son of each generation washes himself in the mud, returning from this ritual with a bog-made bride. However, no bride appears for eldest son Charlie, shattering the fragile ties binding together the rest of the surviving Haddesleys: tyrannical eldest daughter Eda, runaway Wenna, resentful Percy, and animal-loving Nora. Wenna wants to sell the house, Percy to create his own bog wife, Eda to get pregnant and carry on the family line herself, Nora to keep Wenna from returning to her husband in Illinois, and Charlie to delve deep enough into their family history to discover the truth of their origins. These disparate reactions build to an abrupt and unsatisfying ending that leaves toxic cycles intact and the family to stew in their misfortune. Even diehard fans of gothic horror will need a high tolerance for misery to get through this. Agent: Laura Cameron and Amanda Orozco, Transatlantic Agency. -
August 1, 2024
The Haddesley family has lived on the same bog in West Virginia for generations. As each patriarch dies and is buried, the bog produces a wife for the eldest son in return. But for the current generation--Charlie, the eldest; Wenna, who escaped the bog in her teens; Percy, the son most devoted to the bog; Eda, the matriarch since their mother's disappearance; and Nora--no wife has come, the bog is dying, and their home is crumbling. Told over the course of a year from the alternating viewpoints of each sibling, with a section for each season, Chronister's latest (after Desert Creatures, 2022) is an immersive, haunting, and compelling tale of a family being crushed by the weight of their secrets and held hostage by their traditions. It's a lush and uneasy tale that leaves both characters and readers at the mercy of the land itself. For fans of atmospheric, character-driven horror featuring a strong sense of place such as Fever Dream, by Samanta Schweblin (2017), The Ghost Wall, by Sarah Moss (2019), or Sacrificial Animals, by Kailee Pedersen (2024).COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
